A History of the Dano-Arendellic Wars
by LeviathanRising
Summary: A Scholarly record of the vicious and taxing war that was waged between the Kingdoms of Arendelle and the Southern Isles between the years of 1846 and 1849. Examining the motivations, tactics, and decisions of King Hans I, Queen Elsa II, and their allies during campaign, this work is definitely the most comprehensive overview of the Dano-Arendellic War, and those that fought it.
1. 1 A Brief History of Arendelle

**_This is supposed to be like a history book, focusing on what might have happened after the events of Frozen. Its' gonna be written from a fairly detached POV, since its' just supposed to be an impartial account, but I thought it might be a fun exercise. This was inspired largely by the great fanfic "Ice on the Rhine", which, if you like this sort of scenario, you should definitely read. This chapter's a little light on Frozen characters, but that will change next chapter, I promise._**

**_I DON'T OWN FROZEN DISNEY OWNS FROZEN BLA BLA BLA._**

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_Chapter 1; A Brief History of Arendelle_

The word "_Arendelle_" has its' origins in the Old Norse "_Arendalr_", translating roughly to "_Eagle's Dale". _

Though no official records exist, Arendelle was likely founded sometime in the late 8th century CE by Vikings hailing from further northern parts of Scandinavia, as a small fishing village and trading port. Nestled in a low fjord, surrounded by tall and nearly impassable mountains on three sides, and by the ocean on a fourth, it proved among the most defensible of Norse settlements. Indeed, Arendelle would only be successfully conquered twice in its' long history; once by Dano-Prussian forces during the titular Dano-Arendellic War in 1848, and by National Socialist Germany in 1943.

In those days, there was no unified Norway, and Arendelle became one of several petty kingdoms scattered throughout greater Scandinavia. The tiny nation quickly gained a reputation for spawning and harboring some of the most renowned and feared of Viking warriors, and in 793 CE, a group of Vikings hailing partly from Arendelle sacked and destroyed the Christian monastery at Lindisfarne, lifting the curtain on the Viking age.

A German Monk passed through Arendelle on his way to the British Isles c.810 CE, leaving behind this account in his journal;

_Surely the worst tales of this place have not been exaggerated. As I walk among the Northmen I feel as an Israelite among Phillistines. There are no followers of Christ here, and if there were, surely the Heathens would quickly spill their blood in an offering to their devils._

_In the center of their town they have erected an altar to the demon they call Thor, a supposed god of thunders and lightning. Daily, they bring him an offering of goat's blood, and even human children on occasion, in return for a powerful rain and victory against their foes. It is said that many of the reprobates who took part in the destruction Christian souls in Lindisfarne some twenty years past have hailed from this place, and indeed, this would not surprise me in the slightest. Boys and girls fornicate freely in the streets, without shame or decency. Men solve their disputes with swords, and there is none to reprove them. Christ send his grace to these poor, fallen people._

Though this account is doubtless exaggerated wildly, it does showcase how much of Christendom felt towards the Norse. And indeed, it also helps one to understand the sheer terror that must have been felt in the British Isles some fifty years later, when what would become known as the "_Mycel Heathen Here" _or "Great Heathen Army", a great collection of Norsemen from several different nationalities, arrived on the shores of northern Britain with the intent to war against the Anglo-Saxons therein.

Commanding this pagan force was Ivar Ragnarsson, better known later as "Ivar the Boneless". Along with him were his brothers Halfdan, Ubbe, and Guthfrith, all hailing from Arendelle. Many strange, though obviously unsubstantiated tales exist about Guthfrith Ragnarsson. Rumors abounded that he was a sorcerer, or even perhaps the product of an unholy union between a heathen woman and a winter spirit. Regardless, these rumors seem to have exploded through Britain following the army's arrival at East Anglia in 865 CE, causing widespread fear among the populace, and even English soldiers.

East Anglia did not even attempt to make war with the invaders, instead bribing them with peace offerings, and allowing them to march through towards the Kingdom of Mercia, were they engaged Mercian soldiers at Nottingham. There are no official accounts of what happened next, but what is known is that the Vikings won the battle quite decisively. A Journal entry, supposedly that of a merchant who observed the battle at Nottingham has garnered some attention in the past, but has been doubted by many historians. It is included here for completeness' sake;

**_{Entire beginning lost} _**_The English soldiers marched down into the pass, where they would meet the Northmen, who had **{section lost} **wind blew up and a great hail began to fall onto the Englishmen, yet it affected not a single heathen. Looking out over their ranks, I could **{section lost} **with movements of his arms, it seemed he directed the path of the hail, which grew larger **{section lost} **surely this was the one they called Guthfrith the Sorcerer. **{section lost} **That the Heathens called him the son of a god, who they said had gifted with the power over ice and storm. **{section lost} **demonstrating now, as dozens of Saxons fell to his witchcraft, many even frozen where they stood or impaled **{section lost} **No sorcery is stronger than Christ, surely he will lead us to victory against these invaders._

Regardless of truth, the idea that the Vikings had among them one that commanded the obedience of snow and ice terrified many of the more superstitious elements among the Britons. Eventually, it seems Guthfrith was struck in the throat by an arrow, supposedly delivered by King Alfred himself, and the Great Heathen Army driven out soon after, except for the section of Britain known as the Danelaw that they carved out for themselves.

Halfdar returned to Arendelle with ships laden down by treasure from his British foray, which he quickly used to establish and style himself as King over his little nation. Soon, he had proclaimed himself king of not only Arendelle, but also Norway. After a series of wars, he managed to make this true in more than name, conquering a substantial part of southwestern Scandinavia. The date was 872, and this is usually considered the year of Norwegian Unification.

After this, Scandinavia was quickly Christianized, and Arendelle just as quickly lost its' reputation for being a den of cutthroats and raiders, as the Viking age came to an end, and Norway stabilized under a common king.

In 1397 CE, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark were brought together in the Kalmar union, which lasted until 1502, when a revolt broke out in southern Norway. In what became known as the Southern Wars, Arendellan independence was gained, and southern Norway became the sovereign nation of Arendelle.

You will forgive me for covering the next few centuries rather briefly, as they are not as important to the War of the Six as Arendelle's earlier times. Besides devastation by the Black Death and scattered disputes with the Danes, Swedes, and Germans, Arendelle enjoyed a constant peace more or less for the next few hundred years, even surviving the Napoleonic wars as a neutral state.

In 1825 however, King Harald VI and his wife Queen Hilde bore a daughter, Elsa. That is where our story truly begins.


	2. The Southern Isles and Prince Hans

**Okay, one more kind of slow prequel-chapter, and then I promise we'll get into some fun battle-stuff. Thanks to everyone who likes this enough to follow, review, etc. Please enjoy.**

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In 1658, during the Great Northern War, King Charles X of Sweden enacted his bold March Across the Belts in which he lead thousands Swedish troops across miles of frozen water from the Jutland peninsula to reach the island of Zealand and the city of Copenhagen. In doing this, landing a crushing blow to Denmark, and forced upon it the Treaty of Roskilde, which ceded a third of Danish territory to the Kingdom of Sweden.

The treaty demanded that Denmark supply Swedish troops with provisions until May, something Charles knew could not be accomplished.

In order to bring the Baltic trade under Danish control, and therefore secure the necessary provisions for his troops, King Charles elected to attack Denmark once again, aiming to dissolve Denmark as an independent nation, placing its' territory completely under Swedish sway.

As the Swedish fleet sailed for Copenhagen, a certain number of nobles in northern Denmark panicked, and desperate to maintain some measure of autonomy, carried out a short, sloppy rebellion declaring themselves a kingdom independent from the rest of Denmark.

They quickly declared their new kingdom "neutral" in the war between Sweden and Denmark, hoping the Swedes would spare them after victory.

On August 9th, 1658, a quickly slapped together council met in Skagan, and the Kingdom of the Southern Isles was proclaimed, encompassing Vendyssel-Thy, and some other outlying islands.

Since a large part of these secessionists traced its' ancestry to Norway and Arendelle, where Denmark had been colloquially known as "The Southern Isles" for centuries, this was the name chosen for the new nation.

That caused some consternation amongst the populace, since it implicitly recognized Arendelle-a foreign nation-as a point of reference for all other regions, but overall, fear of the Swedes made the secession fairly popular.

Supposedly, when King Charles learned of this, he laughed, remarking that; "if the Danes are so afraid they are prepared to raise up new nations to please me, this will prove an easier campaign then I could have ever anticipated"

He was wrong. The Dutch intervened in the nick of time on Danish behalf, and the outcome of the war was decidedly less favorable towards Sweden than Charles would have liked, allowing Denmark to continue its' existence as an independent nation.

Many Danish elements following the armistice wished to take back their rebellious little island, but the Southern Isles quickly drew the support of many enemies of Denmark, who saw an advantage in having an ally right on Danish borders, making a campaign against the northern traitors more costly than it was worth.

So for nearly one hundred years, the Southern Isles and their former mother country maintained an uneasy and bitter peace.

In 1798, King Eric II of the Southern Isles died without a male heir. The Aristocracy, not keen on his daughter Princess Sarah ascending to the throne, immediately married her to Prince Wilhelm of Corona, making him the Southern Isles' new King.

King Wilhelm and Queen Sarah wasted no time in producing a male heir themselves. In fact, over the next twenty-six years, the new rulers produced thirteen, all of them boys. Compared to the earlier king's impotence, it was so peculiar that Sarah later wrote that it seemed almost like; "_God having fun with my father and I."_

Their younger sons, with no real hope of ever sitting on the throne, and therefore no reason to put up a respectable front, quickly gained reputations for being frivolous spenders and cads who were all too quick to take advantage of their station in life.

A very angry Captain Michael of the Southern Isles armed forces recorded in his journal what three of the princes had done with one of his warships;

_Evidently the young princes Johann, Samuel, and Hans decided it would be great amusement to ride up to the docks, breathless, proclaiming to all that would listen that we were at war with Denmark and that the enemy fleet was already sailing towards the Southern Isles. I am still unsure exactly what transpired, but in the ensuing panic, the crew of one of my frigates attempted to leave the docks. They did so too quickly it seems, for they succeeded only in gouging a deep hole in the side of the ship when it crashed against a pier, sinking one of the most valuable assets of my entire navy._

_Miraculously, no one was killed or even seriously injured, but thousands of krones worth of weaponry, food, and countless other provisions were lost._

_If those three were not the King's sons I would have them flogged at the very least, if not hanged in the city square._

Prince Hans, in particular, was the one most often responsible for this and similar antics, which was only logical, as he was the youngest of the thirteen princes.

Hans was born on December 18th, 1823, in Skagan, the northernmost city on the Jutland peninsula and the capital of the Southern Isles. He would be his mother's latest and final son. Bearing twelve children in merely twenty-six years had taken its' toll on the queen, and she died in childbirth.

If certain accounts are to be believed, Hans' birth was accompanied by a whole host of bad omens besides his mother's death, from cattle dying in fields to the moon being blotted from the sky. However, since none of the sources attesting to these events can be traced earlier than 1850, it is more likely that they are simply libel added to his life story later, after what he wrought as King of Denmark.

King Wilhelm was cold and distant to his youngest son, likely blaming the boy for his mother's demise. Ignored as well by his oldest brothers, Hans seems to have found a surrogate father figure in Nicholas Andersen, Grand General of the Southern Isles' armed forces.

Andersen was routinely present in the royal palace and its' environs, bringing him into constant contact with the Royal Family. As a close friend of the king's and an important member of his cabinet, it can be assumed he knew Hans since soon after the latter's birth.

Andersen was a decorated war hero, who had fought against French and Danish forces in the Napoleonic Wars, earning him several accolades and titles as a result of his service. He seemed to take a shine to the young prince, who he allowed to accompany him to the various military installations across the small nation since Hans turned ten, fostering a love of soldiering and combat in the boy, who quickly became a skilled fighter himself, under Andersen's tutelage.

When Hans was only thirteen, Andersen recommended to the king that he undergo training to become Grand General of the Armed Forces himself when he came of age. This did not sit well with many of his brothers, who had hoped to take the position themselves in lieu of becoming King. Nevertheless, the king agreed, and Hans began to attend the Southern Isles' Royal Military Academy at fourteen.

His many tutors spoke well of him, a certain Captain saying;

_The boy has a soldier's mind. He is a quick and incisive thinker with a very logical approach to things. Rare is the pupil who outscores him in any task or exercise, or in combat training, for he is very proficient with a sword and a musket alike. He would and will make a fine leader of men._

Militaristic matters became the focus of Hans' life, and he spent most of his adolescence and early adulthood training to be a better soldier and commander.

In the winter of 1845, a revolt (likely one sponsored by Danish elements) broke out in the western regions of the Southern Isles. Andersen, apparently eager to prove the worth of his pupil, ordained Hans the commander of a small military force and dispatched him to quell the unrest.

The disorganized rebels were easily lured onto the frozen shores of the Limfjord by a flashy and distracting, but in reality rather unimportant, detachment of troops, only to be surrounded on all sides by the true bulk of royal forces.

Hans ordered cannonballs fired at the ice surrounding the enemy, cracking the frozen water under their very feet and sending dozens of rebels to freeze or drown in the icy waters below. Those that escaped were quickly cut down or taken prisoner by the soldiers.

The leaders of the rebellion were chased to a small town called Hanstholm, where they attempted to hole up in a farmhouse. The soldiers set fire to the structure, killing all inside with the exception of one man who attempted to escape through the window. He was quickly shot by the surrounding troops.

Upon return to Skagan, Hans was met with the immediate acclaim of Andersen, and was quickly promoted to captain by the proud General, something he greatly enjoyed flaunting before his title-less brothers.

He took to taking advantage of this rank and the respect it afforded, indulging in antics such as the ship incident related previously with shocking frequency, usually joined by the next youngest of his brothers, Johann and Samuel.

Besides mean-spirited jokes played on palace officials and townspeople, Hans quickly gained a reputation for dalliances with ladies of his father's court, drawing the ire of more than one father or even husband. Protected by his status and his close relationship with the Grand General, there was little risk of retribution for his actions.

However, he had only months to enjoy his new position, as on May 18th of 1846, Andersen died, leaving Hans to take his place, as had been ordained years ago.

As Hans made preparations for his graduation ceremony, being fitted for a uniform and selecting the perfect sword, the king died, only five days after the general, on May 25th. Hans' oldest brother ascended to the throne, becoming Gustav IV of the Southern Isles. Gustav, instead of honoring his father's promise, passed over Hans, giving the position of Grand General to his third youngest brother Prince Victor instead, probably at the request of the latter.

Hans was devastated. In one of the few of his writings preserved until today, he outpoured his rage over this perceived slight against him;

_My 'brothers', and indeed, I can call them brothers only in blood, have insulted me in the worst way I can possibly imagine. It is not enough that I will never be king here, that I am the lowest of us all. No, they have to take everything from me. They must spit on me and wear me down, simply because of sheer malice and the desire to cause me misery. They are no true brothers at all, and so I swear I will not treat them as such._

The melodramatic young prince, wallowing in self-pity, exiled himself to a small house in the countryside immediately following Victor's promotion.

Two weeks after Gustav's coronation, Hans chartered a private ship to Arendelle, which would soon be celebrating the inauguration of its' own ruler. He told no one, leaving in the dead of night on June 19th, 1846

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**I Feel like this chapter was kind of rushed, if you think it read that way, please tell me, and advise me what I should do to avoid that in the future.**


	3. Queen Elsa and the Sparks of Conflict

_**I'm Back! Sorry for the long wait, all you wonderful people following this, I've just been a little busy lately. I kind of lied, though I do get into some post Frozen  stuff, it's still largely a prequel chapter, but NOW we're done with that, promise. Anyway, read, critique, suggest, and hopefully enjoy!**_

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Princess Elsa Hanover was born on June 18th 1825, to King Harald VI of Arendelle and his wife Queen Hilde. King Harald was not himself a native of Arendelle, having been born in the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg to a little known Hanoverian Duke named William at some uncertain date in 1806.

As with King Hans, many legends surround the circumstances of Elsa's birth and early childhood. One particularly malicious pamphlet that sprung up in Corona sometime in the late 1840s entitled **_The True and Lurid Account of the Birth Of Queen Elsa II of Arendelle, a Child of Heathen Spirits, _**rather infamously accused Queen Hilde of fornicating with the pagan god Wotan (also Odin, or Woden), the resulting offspring being Elsa. Admittedly, Queen Hilde had something of a passion for Norse Myths, sending the most eminent of her royal scholars across the kingdom to collect these legends, and indeed we have her to thank for many of the most comprehensive compendiums of indigenous Northern European mythology still available today, but there is nothing to suggest she was ever anything other than a faithful Lutheran.

The pamphlet contains several lewd artworks depicting this union (complete with the sacrifice of innocent babies, of course)

There is also a more benign story that the King and Queen, unable to conceive, sought out the council of a tribe of trolls inhabiting the nearby forests, who cured the queen of her barren womb, and bestowed Elsa with supernatural abilities as a well-intentioned but misguided "gift".

Elsa's birth also kick-started several more grounded rumors. Despite the fact that her mother and father were both brunettes, Elsa was born with the fairest of blonde hair, almost white. Naturally, whispers of infidelity sprung up almost immediately, even causing some questions about the legitimacy of Elsa's claim to the throne (later, during the wars, Duke IV Heinrich of Weselton revived this claim as a challenge to Elsa's rule, but when thousands of men were dying en masse on either side, no one really cared enough for anything to come of it)

Elsa was described by most as a bright but serious and reserved child, "born to be queen", many said. After first meeting the then-four years old princess during a diplomatic visit by the royal family to Prussia in 1829, King Friedrich referred to her as "_A beautiful but sad child. She seems to carry a chill air about with her, and there is a gloom in her eyes, as if anticipating some great tragedy yet to take place. She reminds me a bit of myself as a boy."_

Then, in 1828, Princess Anna was born, King Harald's second daughter. She was apparently the antithesis of Elsa, a friendly, bubbly, outgoing, and naïve child since she was old enough to walk.

Princess Anna herself wrote later in life about what a trusting child she had been, recounting an incident that had occurred when she was four and Elsa seven;

_A servant boy who was about twelve at the time told me there were elves hiding in the woods at the foot of the North Mountain, and that if I caught one, I could make it grant me whatever h I wanted. Gerda had rjust read the story of Dornröschen to Elsa and me, and I wanted to fight dragons like Prince Phillip, so I went to find the elves, determined to become a great swordswoman. I didn't find any elves, I only managed to get lost in the forest for hours, wandering around and calling out for the magical creatures. Then, a very light snow began to fall, forming a very clear path to a small camp where a hunter found me and returned me home. I don't think the servant boy would try something like that again, after Elsa was through with him. _

Despite the stark differences in their personalities, Elsa adored her little sister, taking great delight in traveling around the city with her, or visiting the fjord and surrounding mountains.

They were a common sight outside of the palace until the summer of 1833. Suddenly, the princesses were seen no more, and even the King and Queen left the castle less and less frequently.

There is literally nothing to report about the full thirteen years between 1833 and 1846, for there is nothing whatsoever known about their lives during that time, except one thing.

In 1843, the king and queen left Arendelle for Corona, to attend the wedding of Rapunzel Glucksburg and a peasant named Eugene Fitzherbert (quite a massive controversy at the time). They both perished at sea, and their bodies were never recovered.

Between the deaths of Harald and Hilde and Elsa's coronation, Arendelle was ruled by a man named Lord Gunnar, who Harald had selected to serve as King Regent in the event of his death. When the king and queen had been dead for longer than the common time of mourning, several nobles wanted to crown Elsa right away, but Lord Gunnar would have none of it, claiming she was "not yet ready".

As the months dragged on, Gunnar still refused to abdicate, leading to fears that he planned to pass by Elsa completely and set up himself as king.

Eventually, a mob of citizens massed outside of Gunnar's mansion, demanding "one of royal blood on the throne".

Gunnar sent his soldiers to disperse the citizens, though no one was killed, it was enough to convince the rest of Arendelle's government that he was indeed planning to usurp the throne.

A very short civil war broke out, with Gunnar's minimal supporters being crushed within four days, and Gunnar himself being forced to flee to the Southern Isles.

On June 18th, 1846, Elsa turned twenty-one, and was crowned as queen.

A small coronation ball was held, and then something truly peculiar happened.

Nations across Europe, but especially the northern regions reported sudden and extreme drops in temperature.

The British Isles received heavy snowfall, and the Germanic Confederation had large-scale crop failure as a result of unexpected frost. The Southern Isles had their fishing industry devastated, and Corona experienced a mass die off of unprepared citizens.

Panic ruled the continent, with people proclaiming the end of days in the streets, suicide rates spiked over the few days it lasted, and there are even scattered reports of impromptu human sacrifice here and there, in an effort to appease whatever had caused this.

Sailors in the North Sea reported that Arendelle was completely cut off, the ocean surrounding the Scandinavian nation completely choked with ice, making passage impossible.

Even as politicians and scholars debated the cause of the winter, it ended just as quickly as it had begun.

The oceans thawed, and the frost lifted in the space of a few minutes. Many called it a miracle of God, showing his might in this age of unbelief. Others considered it some sort of witchcraft, and religious fanaticism spiked across Europe.

Slowly, stories leaked from Arendelle, attesting to the cause of the winter.

Duke Heinrich IV arrived in the court of Coronan king Adolph I, ranting that Queen Elsa II was an evil sorceress who had attempted to destroy Arendelle and all of Europe with the power of the devil.

The king was, himself a believer in witchcraft, and that, coupled with the fact that Corona and Arendelle were not on the friendliest of terms at the time (in fact, Harald and Hilde's ill fated voyage had been a failed attempt to mend relations with the Germanic kingdom), means Adolph probably saw in Heinrich's ravings a possible weapon to wield against the northern nation. After all, no one could deny the winter had been real.

More and more stories poured from the Scandinavian nation.

The French dignitary Jean Gardinier told this story upon arriving in Paris;

_Midway through her majesty Elsa's ball, her sister approached her, together with Hans Glücksburg of the Southern Isles. I did not hear the details of their spat, but Princess Anna took one of Queen Elsa's gloves from her, something which panicked the queen beyond what one might think a reasonable reaction. Their argument grew worse, and suddenly, Elsa conjured as if by sorcery a jagged wall of ice from thin air, which nearly ran through several partygoers. The queen abandoned the palace, running into the mountains before any could stop her. Despite the attempts of others to dissuade her otherwise, Princess Anna followed her sister into the wilderness, with the intention of returning her._

_The following day was a horror, with dozens dying, their bodies unprepared for the sudden cold. Hans and a small search party returned to Arendelle with Elsa captive, and proceeded to lock her in the dungeon, despite the protests of others and myself. _

_Anna was returned mere hours later by some farmer or another, who slipped away before he could be questioned._

_Hans made it to appear as though the princess (Who we learned he had become engaged to the night of Elsa's coronation) had died as a result of Elsa's actions, declaring a right to execute the queen for treason. Before he could carry out this heinous deed, he was thwarted by the supposedly dead Anna, who took the blow from his sword intended for her sister. Inexplicably, the sword was destroyed rather than her._

_From my vantage point on the palace balcony, it was difficult to record exactly what was transpiring, but only moments later, the snows and ice had melted away, and summer had returned. _

_Regardless of what others may say concerning Arendelle's ruler, it is my opinion that Elsa is no Grïmhilde*, but a good and just ruler caught up in events beyond her control. I believe France should endeavor to make an ally of her rather than a dangerous enemy._

The opposite reaction was also common.

On August 8th, 1846, King Adolph issued a public statement, condemning Elsa as a "Whore of the Devil" responsible for the deaths of hundreds through her dark magic. He declared her an enemy of God and Christendom, and cried that it was the duty of Europe to remove her from Arendelle's throne.

It is likely that Prince Hans was already in Corona.

Hans, after his attempted assassination of Elsa, had been shipped back to the Southern Isles on board a warship, where he would likely have been executed for attempted regicide.

Instead, he was granted a stroke of good fortune when a great storm came upon the North Sea, within eyesight of the Southern Isles' coast.

The ship was lost, and though Hans' body was not found among its wreckage, it was assumed he drowned or had otherwise perished in the disaster.

He was in fact perfectly well, the only survivor of the shipwreck, and by his own account;

_I wonder if Thunor must have smiled upon me, for even as I could see the lights of Skagan through the small window of my cell, a great storm blew up. The wretches who had caged me all provided a hearty meal for the sharks, but I alone was saved. And so I ran across the Southern Isles, and then across Denmark and Germany disguised as a common man. I have decided to make for Corona, I will see if my uncle will grant me asylum from that bastard Gustav, and from that damned witch, too._

He was right. King Adolph was the brother of King Wilhelm of the Southern Isles, the Coronan prince who had married Princess Sarah, and Hans' father, and his daughter Rapunzel was Hans' first cousin.

When Hans arrived in Corona sometime in late July or early August, Adolph, and Rapunzel welcomed him with open arms.

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*Grïmhilde; A medieval German queen and supposed sorceress, though a historical figure, she is central to the folktale of ___Schneewittchen,_ or _Snow White._


	4. Prince Hans and the Royals of Corona

_**Yay! Another update!**_

_**In pretty much every fanfic I read, Corona and Arendelle are allies and Rapunzel gets along well with Elsa and Anna, so I decided to switch things up and maker her and her family villains siding with Hans. **_

_**And, yeah, I know a German, authoritarian, expansionist villain named Adolph isn't exactly original, but I'd actually decided to name him that before I chose to make him a bad guy. **_

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King Adolph I of Corona is known for having one of the longest rules of any European King, having ascended to the throne at fifteen in the year 1806, his father King Frederick having been killed in the Napoleonic Wars. Even from his youngest years, Adolph tended toward authoritarianism, his strict policies causing some conflict with neighboring kingdoms, notably angering Alexander I of Russia, when, in 1818 he declared a substantial part of arable land on the Russo-Coronan border to be property of his own kingdom.

When the Russians responded in the negative, Adolph infamously said; "Either we will have the farmland we desire, or we will have St. Petersburg ". Though nothing came of his boasts in the end, it set an unwelcome precedent for Coronan foreign relations.

Then, in 1820, during a visit to Prussia, Adolph became infatuated with Maria Von Brandenburg, a daughter of the House of Hohenzollern, her father, a Baron named Simon, was only too happy to have his child of comparatively humble birth married off to a king, and Maria became Queen of Corona in on January 18th 1821.

Corona was the easternmost state in the German Confederation, compromising much of Pomerania and Prussia (the geographical region, not the kingdom), and marrying Maria helped consolidate its relationship with the western member nations, particularly Prussia. Adolph was a vocal proponent of German unification (under the Coronan banner of course), and he was still busy lobbying for it when Maria became seriously ill.

Though the exact sickness that took hold of the queen is not recorded, it seems she was on the verge of death, pushing Adolph to the brink of desperation. In February 1823, Adolph issued an order across the kingdom, commanding all able citizens to spend at least one day a week searching for the "Goldene Blume", a legendary flower supposedly birthed from a drop of sunlight, with the purported power to cure any illness. This was a decree to be disobeyed only if one had a wish for death.

An New Yorker traveling in Corona at the time found himself caught up in the search for the flower, writing;

_A squad of Coronan soldiers bursts into the inn about 8 O'clock in the morning, waving around swords and muskets, terrifying everybody._

_The captain jumps up on a table and starts yelling that King Adolph has ordered a search for the "Goldene Blume", I asked the innkeeper's daughter what the hell this guy was on about, and she says there's an old story about a magical flower that can heal the sick, made out of sunlight._

_The captain shouts that; "You search or you lose your head!"_

_We all filed out of the inn at the point of bayonets, and they marched us up into the mountains, were we spent the entire day, until the sun came up again the next morning, with soldiers shouting at us every second we didn't find a damn magic flower._

_As I'd like to take a walk down a Long Island beach once more, instead of being shot and buried in some German field, I suppose I have no option but to comply with this madness._

_So, yes, it seems for the moment I'm trapped in a country run by a man who forces his citizens to go hunting for fairy tales on pain of death. God help me._

The idiom "King Adolph's Flower" became an expression for an unattainable, probably nonexistent goal.

Regardless of whether or not the magic flower was found, the queen recovered from her illness, and not only that, but gave birth to a healthy baby girl nine months later; Princess Rapunzel.

Adolph was so ecstatic that he declared his daughter's birth a national holiday, and sent up a fleet of lanterns over the Baltic Sea to celebrate.

This joy did not last long.

Sometime in early 1824, the princess went missing from the castle.

Adolph blamed it on a shadowy figure he said had slipped into Rapunzel's nursery and stolen away with her before the king could react. Surely a witch, he said.

Many were disinclined to believe the "witch" story, instead blaming a Russian or possibly Arendellic agent, some even whispering the king had done away with his daughter himself, for whatever reason.

The search started up again, this time for the missing princess, but though soldiers and civilians scoured the countryside for nearly a full year, she was never recovered.

Adolph and Maria plunged into a deep grief, every year repeating the lantern lighting ceremony, hoping for the return of their daughter. Adolph turned his efforts towards building up Corona's somewhat outdated military force, determined to mass an army rivaling that of Frederick William III's Prussia. It worked. Corona quickly became known as a powerful state, but only at the expense of public services that tax dollars would have otherwise gone towards. In the years following Rapunzel's death, a highly disproportionate amount of payments to the government went towards military use, leading to a marked drop in the quality of average Coronan life.

Then, in 1843, a notorious thief known as Flynn Rider arrived at one of Adolph and Maria's many palaces on the Baltic coast, with him was a young girl of about eighteen, who claimed to be the lost princess.

Many were skeptical at first, suspecting a con, as Rider (who's true name was Eugene Fitzherbert) had only weeks earlier been declared an enemy of the crown after stealing the literal crown that would have gone to Rapunzel when she came of age.

Eventually, the King held a private "Test of Royal Blood" attended by several royal and religious officials, designed to prove or disprove the legitimacy of their claim.

There is no record of what happened in this "test", but when it was finished, Adolph declared that Rapunzel had been returned, and not only did he pardon Eugene Fitzherbert of all crimes against the crown, but to the shock of all Europe, allowed him to marry Rapunzel, becoming a prince of Corona and Adolph's son in law.

Then, in 1824, Adolph passed a law now known as the "Witchcraft Edict of 1824", which not only officially recognized the existence of witchcraft, but made its practice and use punishable by death. He was encouraged in this action by Duke Heinrich IV of Weselton, a city on the northern Coronan coast.

Heinrich was himself an ardent believer and enemy of sorcery, distributing several "public awareness" pamphlets across Corona and even into Prussia and Russia, which detailed the practices of witches, and how one could identify them.

But even more so, he was encouraged by his own daughter's account of her lost years. According to Rapunzel, her father's witch story was true, she had been raised by a woman named Gothel, a sorceress who played at being her true mother for years, until she was rescued by the now Prince Eugene.

Perhaps Rapunzel did not intend to cause the panic and death that followed, but over a thousand people across Corona were executed for witchcraft over the next two years, in what become known as the "Time of Superstition".

The continent was horrified, how could a modern, European nation slip back into the paranoia and ignorance responsible for the witch and werewolf trials of three hundred years ago?'

Under pressure from the rest of Europe, including his fellow members of the German Confederation, Adolph delivered the following explanation;

_Even if witches do not truly possess supernatural powers, one who would endeavor to practice magic is one who does not have loyalty to god, country, or king. They are as good as traitors, and so their punishment is justified as if they were indeed literal servants of the devil._

Once he was able to come up with a satisfyingly secular explanation for his actions, the persecutions continued.

The Duke of Weselton was made Commander of the Coronan Armed Guard Against Witchcraft,

Then, in 1846, the Two Day Winter occurred.

In 1832, Corona had a short war with Russia, Arendelle fighting with Alexander I against the German state. Prusso-Coronan forces decisively beat the Russians, but the relations between Arendelle and Corona remained forever soured, despite the attempts of King Harald and Queen Hilde. When Adolph saw an opportunity to condemn Queen Elsa for sorcery, with the testimony of his own Duke to give credence to the accusations, the king took it.

No official declarations were made, but old records released after the defeat of the German Empire in 1918 following the First World War show that Adolph began preparing for war with Arendelle as early as September 1846.

That was directly following his second stroke of good luck; the arrival of Prince Hans in Corona following his fortunate shipwreck.

Hans had attended the celebrations thrown after Rapunzel's safe return three years earlier, and had visited Corona a few times since. His uncle and cousins knew him well.

Though his brothers still believed him likely dead, they had put out a bounty on him in the event he was still alive. To avoid being caught by anyone aware of the reward, he stole the garb of a Coronan Grenadier and made his way to Warsaw.

What happened next is a bit muddied, but it seems there was some commotion in a marketplace, and Hans found himself in Pawiak Prison for disturbing the peace. It was then discovered that he was not a real soldier, and he was nearly hanged for impersonating a member of the Coronan military. He told his captors everything, backing up his claims to royalty by revealing a few precious coins and other baubles he'd managed to keep on him through his travels.

Apparently convinced, his jailers granted his claim to see Princess Rapunzel. It is not known why he demanded to see her specifically, but it is likely he expected she'd be most merciful and sympathetic to his plight.

She arrived at the Pawiak, and by pure chance, she had in tow Duke Heinrich, who had been, for some unknown reason, traveling with her that day.

Of course, Heinrich and Hans had been together at the debacle that Elsa's coronation became, and Heinrich immediately ordered the prince released and brought back to the castle, something Rapunzel readily agreed to.

Heinrich brought Hans before Adolph, proclaiming him a noble soul and enemy of witchcraft, who had nearly died in an attempt to defeat Queen Elsa and free Arendelle from its winter. That was enough to convince the king, it seems, and Hans was granted residence in the palace for as long as might be necessary.

Around the time the dejected prince arrived, Adolph left for Berlin, to speak with Friedrich Wilhelm IV on "matters of military importance The only records of the visit describe its purpose as "matters of military importance". However secretive these records might be, however, considering what transpired only months after, it is quite clear what these meetings must have concerned.

The conflict that would eventually balloon into the Dano-Arendellic Wars had all but begun.


End file.
